Books for buffs

If you love restoring antique tractors or collecting old agricultural advertising paraphernalia, or if you are just a dreamer, these new books from Motorbooks will keep you curled up in your favorite chair for hours.

Old tyme tractors. Great American Tractors: John Deere, Farmall & Ford gives the history of general-purpose tractors. A nice feature is a section listing clubs, newsletters, restoration specialists and parts suppliers for beginning restorers.

John Deere New Generation Tractors tells the story of these tractors, introduced in 1960, which led to the end of the 2-cyl. tractor. Standard hardware and rare options for many tractors are covered.

Ford Farm Tractors begins with the legend of Henry Ford and his first sighting of a steam traction engine as a boy and covers the company's history of tractors to 1996.

Ford Tractor Implements, for the Ford equipment buff, tells the lengths the company went to in developing its line of machinery.

Farmall Letter Series Tractors Originality Guide is for restorers who are sticklers for detail. The author researched the McCormick-International Harvester archives and came up with the definitive word on the tractors' original designs.

The restorer's bible. Antique Tractor Bible shows you how to buy, transport, restore and operate an antique tractor.

Cool collectibles. Farm Tractor Collectibles takes you back to the old days when the only exposure a farmer had to machinery was from company advertising and trinkets that were designed as miniatures of the machines. The book features studio photography to give a good look at these rare finds. Contact MBI Publishing Co., Dept. FIN, 729 Prospect Ave., Osceola, WI 54020, 800/826-6600.